Editing Mind machine (section)

==History==
The influence of rhythmic sounds and drums to enter altered states of consciousness is used in different indigenous tribes (see [[Shamanic music]]), as well as optical stimulation produced by the flickering light of camp fires or pressing lightly on the eyeballs.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Thomason|first=Timothy|date=2010-01-01|title=The Role of Altered States of Consciousness in Native American Healing|url=http://works.bepress.com/timothy_thomason/10/|journal=Journal of Rural Community Psychology|volume=E13|issue=1}}</ref> This "stroboscopic photo-stimulation produces 'photic driving', the alpha type of brain electrical activity associated with an altered state in which people are susceptible to suggestion". (<ref name=":1" /> p.&nbsp;12).

The first scientific observations were made by [[William Charles Wells]] in the 1790s who described different effects of binocular vision. His results were later transferred to be applied in [[binaural beats]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Destined for Distinguished Oblivion: The Scientific Vision of William Charles Wells (1757-1817)|last=Wade|first=N. J.|publisher=Kluwer-Plenum|year=2003|location=New York}}</ref>  Visual experiments with flickering lights were conducted in the 1940s by [[William Grey Walter]] who used stroboscopic light flashes to measure their effects on brain activity, assessed with [[EEG]]. He reported effect not just on visual areas but on the whole cortex.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The living brain|last=Walter|first=W. G|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|year=1963}}</ref>

The development of alpha EEG feedback (see [[neurofeedback]]) is an important starting point for biofeedback and its explicit use for entering altered states of consciousness.<ref>{{Cite journal|author1=Lynch, J. |author2=Paskewitz, D. |author3=Orne, M. |date=1974|title=Some Factors in the Feedback Control of Human Alpha Rhythm|journal=Psychosomatic Medicine|volume=36|issue=5|pages=399–410 |doi=10.1097/00006842-197409000-00003|pmid=4415822|s2cid=30103590 }}</ref> Enterprises started to produce different types of mind machines and some scientists followed the line of research to explore if and how these devices elicit effects on brain processes.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Audio-Visual Entrainment: History, Physiology, and Clinical Studies|last=Siever|first=D.|work=Handbook of Neurofeedback: Dynamics and Clinical Applications|publisher=James R. Evans|year=2007|location=The Haworth Medical Press, Binghamton, NY}}</ref>

In the late 1980s and early 1990s Farley initiated an investigation concerning medical claims made by some manufacturers and sellers.<ref name="medical_claims" /> The FDA concluded that Light and Sound Machines were not medical devices and did not warrant regulation. Sellers and manufacturers were given guidelines for how they could advertise these devices, and were required to include a disclaimer and cautionary document with each machine.{{citation needed|date=March 2017}}
Nowadays, mind machines are rediscovered by some teenage cultures  as so called “digital drugs”, a legal way to enter altered states of consciousness.<ref name=Idosing>{{Cite news |first1 = Ryan |last1 = Syngel  |title = Report: Teens Using Digital Drugs to Get High |date = November 3, 2014 |language = en |newspaper = Wired |url = https://www.wired.com/2010/07/digital-drugs/ |access-date = July 14, 2010}}</ref>